Top Promotion Ideas of the Year

Suzanne KartWilliam DravesPaul Franklin

Use Google+ in your marketing• Over the last year, enough data has been collected

on the SEO ranking effect of Google+ to determine it is the most important factor in SEO ranking found a study released in August (Ranking Factors Rank Correlation 2013).

• 89% of American consumers search the internet before making a purchase.

• Don’t you want your program to up come up first when people search for “continuing education” in your market?

In-person events for Gen Y• Contrary to the perceptions of media and

older adults, Gen Y embraces face-to-face networking and events. New conferences this year aimed at Twenty Somethings verify that.

• Think about in-person events targeted for Gen Y to promote your program. Gen Y likes to press the flesh just like other generations.

• Using their words, messages, images and values (like servant leadership and charitable causes), use in-person events targeted to Gen Y in your marketing.

Don’t eliminate your catalog

Your catalog and other printed material remain critically important promotion strategies and variables for financial success

• Web-based and social media marketing and promotion have become increasingly deployed and effective. Yet, the data reinforce that your catalog and other printed material are essential ingredients for financial success in today’s marketplace. Consider these data from recent marketing studies:

• Roughly 80% of all mail delivered is opened compared to only about 20% for e-mails.• Print delivers a higher response rate compared to email. The Chief Marketing Officers

Council found that the average response rate for email is 0.12%, whereas the average response rate for direct mail is 4.4%.

• According to the Printing Industries of America, print catalogs carry an average cost per lead of $47.61 whereas the average cost per email lead is $53.65.

• Printing Industries of America also found that 67% of online searches are driven by offline messages with 39% of shoppers making a purchase.

• Websites supported by catalogs yield 16.3% more revenue than those not supported by catalogs.

• For these and many other data based reasons, you need to not only continue your catalogs and other printed matter but make them work harder for you.

Send More Email

• Have your promotional emails come from a person – not just organization. For instance, you probably received emails from both William Draves and Suzanne Kart about this conference – rather than just “LERN.” Emails that come from a person are more likely to get opened.

• Send more emails to less people. You’ll get more business. If your open rate stays at 10-20% and your opt out and bounce rates are both <1%, it’s working.

Mix real and stock photos• It might not be the ‘end’ of stock

photos, but mix real photos with stock photos in your marketing.

• The advantage of real photos is authenticity.

• The advantages of stock photos are crisp, clean, well staged images.

• If you have seen the same stock photo used by two or three different organizations, think about whether overusing the same photo will be effective.

What works for print works for web

• More and more research on consumer likes and dislikes says that what works for printed material works for website and email.

• For example, the headline in a print advertisement or direct mail piece has always been seen as the most critical copy. So, too, the title of an event in your catalog. Similarly, the subject line in an e-mail is critically important because it very important in whether an e-mail gets opened or not.

• Now, direct marketers have determined that, like in print, short lines are better than longer lines for website copy. Denny Hatch, venerable sage in direct marketing, says that new research shows copy lines on websites should be 50 to 75 characters and no more. Any longer and the copy is difficult to read and people are inclined to give up.

Websites – the future is more white space.

• As we evolved during Web 1.0, design became all about the bells and whistles.

• We’re now evolving into web design being all about usability.

Employer or third party testimonials

• We know participant testimonials work. You know participant testimonials work. Now look at a third party testimonial, such as a few from employers.

• What employers say does influence employees, and of course other employers. There might be other influential third parties, such as local leaders.

• Whenever something, like testimonials, works, look for a spin-off, extension or variation, because it stands a good chance of both complementing your existing copy and enhancing it in your marketing.

Dynamic Pricing• More and more dynamic pricing as used by airlines for years is finding

a place in other marketplaces. It may be time to consider dynamic pricing in event marketing and pricing.

• Dynamic pricing using algorithms to maximize revenue by getting each customer to spend the most he or she is willing to pay. Have a day of the week, or time of year or a venue where an event draws more than other days or venues? Dynamic pricing says the cost to play goes up. Conversely, slow days, or slow seasons or venues that don’t draw as well means prices are lower in an effort to get more seats in the seats.

• Dynamic pricing may be tricky to pull off and you probably can’t take it as far as the airlines have. But, it is definitely worth watching as it evolves as it is doing and it is worth thinking about how you could apply in your enterprise.

Blogging and Social Media

• You need to be blogging – and you need to include video on your blog. During May 2011, over 31 million people in the U.S. watched video content on social networks and blogs. (Nielson Q3 2013)

• A social media presence is a must. 53% of active social networkers follow a brand. (Nielson Q3 2013). In addition, Google and Bing both use social media indicators to determine search engine ranking.

Wordsmith your Categories

• Your subject Categories, both in your print brochure and on your website, are important.

• That’s what readers look at first to find courses and topics of interest to them.

• So tweak the words describing Categories where the courses and topics might not be pulling as many registrations as you think they could.

• Adding or subtracting a single letter in a word can make a big difference. So can re-ordering the words. So can substituting another word that means the same.

Capture customer reviews and use them in all your promotional materials.

• People love customer reviews. You should be offering your customers the opportunity to review your events.

• Then use the results in all of your promotional materials – web pages, catalogs, brochures, other direct mail Facebook, even TV and radio if you do any.

• One caution… the most credible reviews address both the positive and the negative. A string of glowing only reviews lose credibility, according to marketing researchers.

People like a good meme.

• GWU, for instance, sees a 300% increase in engagement with their site when they post a meme. LERN’s jumps even higher – closer to 500%.

Use Serif for the body of your print brochure.

• Research says san serif type is better for your web site. And san serif works in really small print, especially for copy that is not very long.

• But for your course descriptions and other copy in the main part of your brochure, go back to serif typestyle. – It works better.– It leads readers to keep reading better.– It is easier on the eyes.

Use a deadline and give it a name

• We have been doing this for years with discounts for early registrations. But, marketers inside and outside of continuing education have found other ways to compel people to action by creating deadlines and giving them a name. Another example of dynamic pricing.

• Examples…– Providence program has special deals on courses if you register on

Black Friday.– Try a Cyber Monday or a 24 Hour Sale or a Daily Deal on a specific

event or… let your imagination run. – Find a few and test them out. Use email promotions as the

marketing vehicle. Test with different market segments.

Thank you!